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Pinealism
"Pinealist" is a generally derogatory term for a behavior which occurs in some Discordian communities. Pinealism and Grayface It should be noted that aversion to Pinealism is usually different from The Curse of Grayface. A Pinealist approaches a group of Discordians with assumptions or preconceived notions about how that group should act. He then acts in a certain way which he assumes will be appreciated by the group. Often, the group reacts negatively, and the pinealist concludes that the group is gray, cabbagey, or Bad Discordians. In this way, the pinealist imposes his own order on the Discordian Society, thus falling victim of the Eristic Illusion and invoking the Law of Eristic Escalation. Pinealism in Action *A pinealist is also someone who thinks they should be impressing other Discordians by showing off how random and absurd they are. While a good show of silliness is usually entertaining, a mediocre or uninspired sillyness is boring. *Pinealism is named for a particular type of internet poster who is all like "ZOMG PINEAL23FNORD". *When someone asks a question and is looking for a serious answer, the pinealist's advice is to "consult your pineal gland". This is not helpful, nor does it add anything new to the discussion. *Many Pinealists believe that Discordian Societies should have no rules. (see also: Eristic Illusion **One guy said, "So a man walks into a Discordian forum site and expects to find people who beleive in true freedom. Why is it that he finds multiple posts about what noobs should and shouldn't do? Why are there "forum leaders"? I feel a system here. I feel THE system. Please respond with why I'm wrong. I was starting to enjoy it here...til i noticed the government that rules this place." **The Good Rev. Roger's response: "Of COURSE there's a fucking system. Just because you recognize that you're a primate doesn't mean you stop being one. Damn." *"Pinealism" also refers to someone that treats the Principia Discordia as a holy book, and thinks that they're a good Discordian because they can recite it forwards and backwards - and often do so. The moral of the story is that when communicating with other Discordians, it is, ironically, sometimes bad taste to reference in-jokes from the Principia. Some Discordians feel it is akin to Bible Thumping, or reciting your favorite lines from Monty Python until they are no longer funny to anyone. *Randomness or Absurdity which seems "forced", or does not add anything. See also: Rutabagas, The Penguin of Doom. *dude makes "Discordian" posts. Some Discordians do not like said posts. **rather than changing posting style, dude decides to increase the behavior which annoys others **dude now perceives these Discordians as hive of grayfaces that he must enlighten by being increasingly annoying and spamming everybody with zero-content zero-lulz threads. *The Pinealist typically fails to understand that "purpose" and "communication" are not at odds with Discordian principles. In their enthusiasm to show how Discordian they are via nonsensical posts, they are defeating the purpose of a Discordian gathering... communication. Sadly, the nonsense-spouting Pinealist, by succumbing to a Discordian stereotype, is defeated by the Aneristic forces they hope to oppose. Sameness, predictability, and lack of independent thought reflect the power of Greyfaced principles just as clearly in the form of deliberate nonsense as they do in the form of deliberate seriousness. The Pinealist, naively unaware that by "trying" to be silly they are placing themselves firmly in a Greyfaced pigeonhole, is not actually engaging in Creative Disorder, as they probably hope to do, but in fact is sowing the seeds of Destructive Order, because Planned Disorder is Order disguised as Disorder, and Premeditated Nonsense is destructive to Creativity. *Also, The Pinealist, in trying to show the underlying overt symbolism inherent in words and the opressive semantic constructs of ordered language, fails to recognize how far down it goes, because they neglect to realize that letters themselves are symbols that fanatically stick to Rules of Order, because otherwise hqjce9 ceao 20-=r qwjax q 0tfv4 -0cnals cas08eqw cnassovf 439sdndvca,.scywebhe@ In Defense of (Some) Pinealism *It is perfectly understandable to want to break free of all limitations, and erase all boundries. It's also fun to try to create new things. It's even a good idea to both emulate your favorite artists, as well as to "think outside the box". But the problem is this: It's very difficult to create something that is both amusing and entertaining, in ANY field or discipline, much less a piece of writing. The line between absurdity/non-sequitor and gibbering meaninglessness is very thin. There's a very good chance that unless you have done a LOT of work and research, you aren't really contributing anything that hasn't been seen 2300 times before. Burroughs perfected cut-ups in the 1950's and 1960's. Tristan Tzara introduced random word poetry in 1920! And unless you forget, it took Joyce SEVENTEEN YEARS to write "Finnegan's Wake". So, posting random words from the Verbal section of the SAT is hardly an innovative or transgressive act; it's just lazy. *It should be fairly obvious that from the fact that most of us call ourselves Discordians, there is some element of the "Principia Discordia" that we must find useful, or can identify with. But we also remember the 5th Pentabarf, and also the suggestion to use it as toilet paper. In a lot of ways, some of the core ideas in the "PD" still work. But many of the jokes, and much of the ideology (oh, you didn't notice? Read it again) and humor is simply dated. There is no reason anyone should think that a current Discordian should still be amused by "King Kong Died For Your Sins". So yes, we know exactly which page the joke you're referencing is on; we just don't really find it funny anymore. Move on, write your own jokes. *Absurdism and non-sequitors can be AWESOME. The huge popularity of Lolcats is evidence of this, as well as Advice Puppy, et al. Hell, the ZALGO phenomenon largely consists of illegible symbols and random pieces of text. But two things should be noticed: **There is a genuinely new dissonance or non-sequitor in action. **Some of them really, really suck.